One Version of the Road

By KOBUS MOOLMAN

And the sun was behind his head

And it was much later than he thought

And he thought that he had nothing more to say

And he did not know whether he should

And he thought that he would anyway

And the sun was inside his eyes

And he tried to imagine where the day before that day had gone

And it smelled of turpentine

And it smelled of disinfectant

And he cut his finger on its edge

And he sucked it

And for a moment he tasted what was inside him

And then he closed his eyes

And he saw that he was wrong

And there was a shadow of a sky

And it lay across the brown field

And all the doors stood wide open

And the sound of water came out

And he understood that what was inside him would always make the sound of blood.

 

 

Kobus Moolman is an award-winning South African poet and playwright. He teaches creative writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. 

 

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons

One Version of the Road

Related Posts

Dispatch from Camelback Mountain

CHRISTOPHER AYALA
There is a part of me who everyday thinks of being back in Arizona walking around blistering days, laughing how when I had them to myself, I had thought this was the end of the line, that there had never been a worse place on earth. That’s mid-thirties type clarity.

In fall, the persimmon trees light their lanterns

CHRISTY TENDING
And I plunge my foot into the scalding water, dropping my resistance to its intensity. I move toward it, inward. I move fast so that my body is unable to register the purposeful heat this place contains—something primordial, obscured by a white, industrial exterior.

A sunny, cobblestone street framed by buildings with flat, golden-yellow facades. Ivy creeps between the buildings, hanging above the path.

The Laws of Time and Physics

JESSICA PETROW-COHEN
My necklace has a thin silver chain and a pendant made of sapphires. My mommy says she knew that my mama was ready to die when she gave away her jewelry. I can see it all so vividly. It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June.